Jim Richerson out as Peoria Riverfront Museum CEO

Friday

May 17, 2013 at 12:01 AMMay 17, 2013 at 4:03 PM

Jim Richerson is out of a job at the Peoria Riverfront Museum effective immediately, the museum’s board of directors announced Thursday.

The president and CEO of the new facility on the riverfront for the last year — and head of its predecessor Lakeview Museum for a dozen years beforehand — will be replaced on an interim basis by Debbie Ritschel, the former general manager of the Peoria Civic Center.

The move signals a new direction and re-emphasized priorities, museum board Chairman Dave Ransburg said during an interview Thursday.

Chris Kaergard

PEORIA — Jim Richerson is out of a job at the Peoria Riverfront Museum effective immediately, the museum’s board of directors announced Thursday.

The president and CEO of the new facility on the riverfront for the last year — and head of its predecessor Lakeview Museum for a dozen years beforehand — will be replaced on an interim basis by Debbie Ritschel, the former general manager of the Peoria Civic Center.

The move signals a new direction and re-emphasized priorities, museum board Chairman Dave Ransburg said during an interview Thursday.

“The issue is we need to be more focused on the attendance and the business side,” he said, praising Richerson as “very plugged in” as far as museum operations themselves.

“We wouldn’t have the museum without him,” Ransburg said, noting that at the same time he and the board retained a fiduciary duty to patrons, their county landlord and to taxpayers whose money built the museum to ensure the facility runs smoothly and economically.

The board chairman downplayed any tension, pledging of Richerson that “wherever he goes, I’ll applaud him, I’ll write a recommendation.”

Richerson could not be reached for comment.

Officials have launched a national search for a new CEO and president, which they expect to take between two and six months. Ritschel has said she does not plan to be a candidate for the position.

The board is looking for someone who’s “a little more entrepreneurial” as well as “startup-oriented,” Ransburg said, and that they are open to all comers but see value in finding someone with museum experience.

The facility itself has continued to be a draw on many fronts, with Richerson describing the April through June period as the museum’s “busy season” with the number of student tour groups visiting on an upswing. The Giant Screen Theater has continued to pull people in — after what officials admitted was a slow start because of some technical difficulties — and saw a sell-out crowd Wednesday night for the premiere of “Star Trek: Into Darkness.”

However, Richerson also had been at the center of an ongoing controversy since last month when Peoria County officials demanded the museum produce financial records — including an annual audit for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2012, and a budget blueprint for the current year — as part of the agreement between the county and museum leaders.

The county owns the land the museum occupies, as well as the building. The museum is a tenant on the property. Peoria County voters narrowly approved a referendum imposing a quarter-percent sales tax on many goods to help finance the construction of the facility.

Museum officials obtained an extension on the late-April deadline imposed by the county and are planning to meet later this month with the county committee that deals with museum matters to go over the financial picture. That includes tax forms that were — after a separate, federal extension — due to be filed May 15.

The museum’s board of directors approved the audit — which board treasurer Cal McKay described as “pretty standard, straightforward” and without any red flags — and signed off on the IRS Form 990 during a meeting Wednesday night and will be forwarding the documents to the county soon.

Richerson also had taken flak for a series of ideas he floated to the head of the county’s museum committee, many of which could have seen the expenditure of additional taxpayer money for the facility. The notions were flatly rejected by County Board museum committee chairman Stephen Morris and were never formally proposed.

Ransburg made a point of saying during the news conference Thursday that announced Richerson’s departure that the museum’s board had no intention whatsoever of asking the county for any type of operating subsidy.

“As a board, we will do everything we need to do to make sure our revenues and expenses match,” he said.

Chris Kaergard can be reached at 686-3135 or ckaergard@pjstar.com. Follow him on Twitter @ChrisKaergard.

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